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Hi All

I do very un-competitive clay pigeon shooting. Just busting a few clays with a mate at the local ground once a month or less.
Anyway I recently bought a Lanber to do it with and it is choked at 1/4 and 1/2 (multichoke) which is what I was planning on after doing some reading and it is what I have used so far with the grounds guns. However, the chap I bought the gun from very nicely threw in 250 cartridges which are fibre wad. So far I have only been using plastic wad.
I have seen that patterns tend to be a bit more spread out with fibre wad so would you use different chokes? I'm sure this is a rookie question but worth asking!

25 years ago I would have said find yourself pattern plate and test, these days I would say just shoot what feels right and if you see a pattern plate shoot it!

I mostly shoot game and this year we moved to a strict fibre only rule. The birds still fall out of the sky for me, just like clays do with both fibre and plastic and that is with 1/4 and 3/4 chokes on both 20 and 12 bores

My club has had a fibre only policy for years and I have never known anyone say that fibre wads produced poorer patterns.

If you get the chance, hang up some paper and compare.

ukrifleman

As said above, the only way to KNOW is to pattern YOUR gun with YOUR cartridges. The 'accepted' philosophy has always been that plastic wads retain a tighter pattern for a greater distance which if I was forced to place a bet on, would back. However it will be entirely down to which plastic wad cartridge Vs which fibre wad cartridge you are comparing.

If you don't have access to the means of patterning your gun/cartridge combo, just carry on as you were before, if you notice more clays just being chipped or more misses, try tightening your chokes and see what happens. If you're shooting ESP at close range <30-35m you might actually see an improvement!

Thanks chaps. I am going tomorrow so I will carry on with 1/4 and 1/2 and see what happens!

I wish I shot clays well enough to tell the difference....

However, yesterday I shot a round of skeet with my 24" Beretta 1301 Comp, instead of my usual 32" clay gun. Shot my best ever round....

You can theorise all you like, the only categoric proof will come from pattern testing. If you feel less confident with fibre it will be reflected in your performance, so prove it to yourself one way or another and remove any doubt.
Personally, I shoot fibre only now, and have noticed no difference whatsoever.

As a friend of mine said years ago, if you are on target then you on target, regardless of cartridge load and choke.

I think very few of us would be able to tell a difference between fibre and plastic wads so just keep doing what you have been doing and enjoy.

ukrifleman wrote:My club has had a fibre only policy for years and I have never known anyone say that fibre wads produced poorer patterns.

I agree, the do not produce poorer pattern, different - yes, poorer - no.

The spread could be a little different in density however it will still be circular and conical.

Thanks all. I had a good day Friday. I hit about 85% of them which isn't quite as good as normal but not terrible. I did identify a slight gun fit issue which I need to sort out but that's easily done.